SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s talks here on the future shape of the U.S.-South Korean defense alliance made two things clear: The Koreans want more control over their own defense, and Washington wants to give it.

Rumsfeld used two appearances Friday to highlight and applaud South Korea’s vibrancy and stability, and he stressed similar themes in closed-door meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung and other officials, according to aides.

In Rumsfeld’s view, Korea has developed to the point where it should assume more defense responsibility – the sooner, the better – and the Koreans say that’s their goal. Neither side, however, has worked out the details or decided over what period of time the transition should happen.

In a "town hall" meeting with about 1,000 U.S. troops at the Yongsan headquarters of U.S. Forces Korea, Rumsfeld noted that the Korean military recently has assumed responsibility for six missions previously performed by U.S. troops, and that they will take over four more in the months ahead.

"As that happens, we’ll see them play a larger and larger role … and the United States will be able to play a somewhat lesser role," he said. "How that will evolve over time depends on a variety of things," including the outcome of diplomatic efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear programs.

Rumsfeld affirmed the U.S. commitment to maintain a troop presence in South Korea – albeit at lower levels – and he bristled at a suggestion that South Koreans increasingly believe they would be better off without the Americans.

Rumsfeld compared the difficulties the United States faces in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the darker days of the 1950-53 Korean War, in which more than 30,000 U.S. troops died.

He noted that many had asked then why the United States should sacrifice in battle on the Korean peninsula.

"Today the answer to the question is clear," he said, noting that South Korea has grown into an economic powerhouse and a stable democracy.

His implication was that, given time, U.S. sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan would produce stability and prosperity in those countries, too.

These changing circumstances make it important for South Korea to take on a greater share of the burden for its own defense, Rumsfeld said, but Koreans should not dismiss the value of U.S. support.

The Pentagon has begun pulling thousands of U.S. troops out of South Korea, where it has maintained a contingent of about 37,000 troops for decades amid concerns that communist North Korea might attempt to reunite the two Koreas by force.

Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, told reporters Thursday that by the end of this year 8,000 of the 12,500 troops designated for withdrawal will have left South Korea.